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Oregon man found guilty of 1980 murder of college student after gum provides DNA link

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Oregon man found guilty of 1980 murder of college student after gum provides DNA link


An Oregon man has been found guilty of murdering a college student in 1980 after he was linked to the case decades later by DNA genetic genealogy and chewing gum he discarded.

Robert Plympton, 60, was found guilty of one count of first-degree murder in the death of Barbara Mae Tucker, who was a 19-year-old student at Mt. Hood Community College when she was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and beaten to death near campus four decades ago, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said Monday in a news release.

For years, no one knew who killed Tucker.

She was killed on Jan. 15, 1980, and her body was found the following morning in a wooded area between Kane Road and a school parking lot in Gresham, Oregon, by students arriving for class, the district attorney’s office said.

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Barbara Mae Tucker. (KGW)

Barbara Mae Tucker. (KGW)

While her case was cold for years, investigators gave the case a fresh look with advances in DNA technology.

In 2000, DNA swabs taken during her autopsy were sent to the Oregon State Police Crime Lab for analysis, and a DNA profile was made from the swabs.

Then in 2021, a genealogist from Parabon Nanolabs identified Plympton as the likely “contributor to the unknown DNA profile developed in 2000,” the release said.

Police in Gresham found that Plympton was living in Troutdale and began to surveil him.

When they observed him spit out a piece of chewing gum onto the ground, detectives collected the gum and submitted it to the crime lab for analysis.

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“The lab determined the DNA profile developed from the chewing gum matched the DNA profile developed” from Tucker’s 2000 DNA swabs, the district attorney’s office said.

Plympton was ultimately arrested on June 8, 2021. He had pleaded not guilty to charges of murder.

Multnomah County Chief Deputy District Attorney Kirsten Snowden previously said there was no evidence that Tucker and Plympton knew each other, The Oregonian reported.

Following a bench trial from Feb. 26 to March 15, Judge Amy Baggio found Plympton guilty of murder and “four counts of different theories of murder in the second degree,” the district attorney’s office announced.

Though the medical examiner determined Tucker had been sexually assaulted, Plympton was not convicted of rape or sexual abuse because prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt it happened while he was alive, the judge said, according to The Associated Press.

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He remains in custody in Multnomah County with sentencing set for June 21.

NBC News has reached out to an attorney for Plympton for comment.



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Former Oregon offensive lineman Michael Wooten commits to Arizona

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Former Oregon offensive lineman Michael Wooten commits to Arizona


Spring ball is over, but spring roster movement is far from it. And less than a day after Arizona wrapped up those offseason practices it has added a player for the fall.

Former Oregon offensive lineman Michael Wooten committed to the UA on Sunday, adding depth to a position group that got a little thin toward the end of spring due to injuries.

he 6-foot-4, 310-pound Wooten will have at least three years of eligibility with Arizona after spending two seasons. He appeared in three games for Oregon in 2022, mostly on special teams, but did not see action last year due to injury.

Wooten was a 3-star prospect out of California in the 2022 recruiting class, picking the Ducks over Colorado. He also had offers from ASU, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah and Virginia.

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Ranked as the 49th-best offensive tackle in his class, Wooten provides another option on the edge behind projected starters Raymond Pulido and Jonah Savaiinaea and backups Rhino Tapa’atoutai and Alexander Doost. The UA lost tackle Joe Borjon to the NCAA transfer portal earlier this month.

Wooten is Arizona’s fifth spring portal pickup, the first on the offensive line.



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Oregon S Kodi DeCambra enters the transfer portal

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Oregon S Kodi DeCambra enters the transfer portal


Oregon Ducks safety Kodi DeCambra has entered the transfer portal, according to reports from 247Sports, On3Sports, and others. DeCambra was a 4-star recruit in the class of 2023 — according to 247Sports — with four years of remaining eligibility after using his redshirt option in his first season.

On Saturday, DeCambra was absent from the Ducks spring game, and after the game, James Crepea of the Oregoniareported that DeCambra was expected to enter the transfer portal. On Sunday, his intent to transfer was made official.

In 2023, DeCambra took just 6 snaps on defense for Oregon, all in the Ducks’ first game against Portland State. DeCambra did not record any stats on those plays.

Oregon brought in a high volume of good defensive backs in the 2024 offseason, which could’ve factored into DeCambra’s decision to transfer. One of the players competing with DeCambra was Aaron Flowers, a safety recruit in the class of 2024, who performed well in the spring game, making four tackles and one pass breakup.

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During his initial recruitment, DeCambra took visits with Washington, Oregon State, and Hawaii, so look out for those schools as potential transfer destinations for the redshirt freshman. DeCambra is from Las Vegas, so there’s also always the chance that he wants to go somewhere closer to home.





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Oregon's 'The Sports Bra' bar goes nationwide, expanding women's sports viewing

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Oregon's 'The Sports Bra' bar goes nationwide, expanding women's sports viewing


Jenny Nguyen owns The Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon. (Credit: Dorothy Wang)

Just two years after opening, an Oregon bar, dedicated to showing only women’s sports, announced plans this week to go nationwide through a franchise model.

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“The Sports Bra” opened in 2022 in Northeast Portland with a “mission to make great food and delicious drinks, and provide a space that supports, empowers, and promotes girls and women in sports and in the community.”

“When I first set out on this journey to open up, I had no idea the impact it would have on so many so quickly,” Owner Jenny Nguyen said in a 2022 interview with FOX TV Stations. “And we are just getting started.”

“Things have happened at light speed compared to what my forecast was,” Nguyen recently told The Associated Press. “This tiny spot that I built for my friends and I to watch games and give female athletes their flowers means so much more. And not just to me, but to a lot of people.”

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‘The Sports Bra’: Bar showing only women’s sports opens

Under the plan, bars and entrepreneurs elsewhere will be able to apply to use The Sports Bra brand for their franchises. Nguyen is open to working with people who already have a physical space, as well as those who may only have a business plan. What matters, she said, is that the potential future partners share The Sports Bra’s values.

Photos show the inside of The Sports Bra.  (Shannon Dupre)

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The expansion will be boosted by funding from a foundation created by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who is married to tennis legend Serena Williams. Nguyen said she already has received hundreds of inquiries.

Interest in women’s sports is at an all-time high, helped by Clark’s exploits this year, when she shattered all-time NCAA scoring records for women and men. The championship game between Iowa and South Carolina on April 7 drew 18.9 million viewers on average, surpassing the audience for the men’s title match for the first time.

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A week later a record 2.45 million viewers on average tuned in to the WNBA draft to watch as Clark went to the Indiana Fever as the No. 1 pick. This week it was reported that she was set to sign a $28 million deal with Nike that would be the richest sponsorship contract for a women’s basketball player.

The rise in interest is not just for women’s basketball, but other sports as well. The 2023 Women’s World Cup reported record attendance with nearly 2 million fans. A University of Nebraska volleyball game played in a football stadium drew more than 92,000 people last August, a world record for largest attendance at a women’s sporting event.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. This story was reported from Los Angeles. 

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